Nine things that Ramaphosa touched on in the NCOP

President Cyril Ramaphosa was in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) answering questions from opposition members on Tuesday. He touched on a numbers of issues related to youth employment, governance of state-owned enterprises and lifestyles audits for senior public officials.

Here are nine things that came out of Ramaphosa’s oral reply:

Ramaphosa says lifestyle audits for government officials are on the way. They could start in October. They’re still deciding the nature and the form of how the lifestyle audits will take place. Everyone will be subjected to the audits, including himself, deputy president David Mabuza, and the rest of Cabinet.

He says some of testimonies coming out of the State capture inquiry and how state agencies were undermined is a concern.

He says he will give evidence to the inquiry if he’s asked to do so. He believes it’s important for the people of South Africa what was happening in the state.

He says the Presidency has not received any correspondence from US president Donald Trump asking for information on South Africa’s land reform process. Confirms that the International Relations and Corporation department has been in talks with the US embassy to ask about Trump’s tweets.

Ramaphosa says accelerated land reform is essential for the growth of country’s economy. He says addressing the issue of land must be done in terms of the ambit of the Constitution and in terms of the rule of law.

He says government has no reason to believe that any country would impose sanctions on South Africa for a process that is constitutional, lawful and consistent with international law.

Ramaphosa says Eskom’s loan facility from the Development Bank of China has a grace period of five years, and is payable through instalments over a period of 10 years. There are no specific conditions for the loan.

He says the Youth Employment Service initiative was conceptualised as a partnership between government and the private sector. It aims to provide work experience to young people on a bigger scale. He says it will significantly have an impact on unemployment levels.

Ramaphosa says they want to re-look board appointment processes of state owned entities (SOEs) to bring back public and investor confidence. He says he has full confidence in public enterprise minister Pravin Gordhan.